STEM lecture on 'artificial brain' kicks off fall series

The first of this fall’s STEM Scholars Lectures at Sacramento State will take place at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20, in the University Union Redwood Room. “Neural Networks: The Quest for an Artificial Brain” will be presented by V. Scott Gordon, a professor of Computer Science at Sacramento State.

“Artificial neural networks” are computer programs that attempt to mimic what the brain does, Gordon says. He will discuss his research on neural networks, including his collaboration with Cognimen Inc. The local company manufactures neural networks in hardware, enabling a wide variety of real-world applications ranging from adaptive optics to offshore fish sorting.

A Sacramento State alumnus, Gordon received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Colorado State University. He has taught Artificial Intelligence, Computer Graphics, Database Systems and other topics at Sac State since 2002. He is the author of numerous publications in the fields of evolutionary computation, neural networks, artificial intelligence and rapid prototyping.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit the Center for STEM Excellence website at www.csus.edu/stem. Questions may be directed to the Center for STEM Excellence at (916) 278-2789 or e-mail stem@csus.edu.